Dedicated to Horror, Post Apocalyptic Fiction and Thrillers

Gavin Smith – The Beauty of Destruction Review

Originally reviewed for The Bandwagon, copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

The Beauty of Destruction is long and complex story told in three time periods. The first is told in an ancient Britain civilization, a time long before technology of any kind. The second is told in the present which is in a dystopian future post-apocalyptic world. The third time period is in the far off future where technology is amazing and beyond what we can imagine. In the past time line we are given some of the clues to the future and told about an artifact that holds answers to what happened in the future. Answers that will fill in why and how the world has become what it is and why it was destroyed. This time line is a science fiction driven story with technology beyond most I have encountered in other science fiction books. In the now time line Beth and Du Bois are traveling through post-apocalyptic London in search of safety and trying to find out what has happened to their world. The now time line is my favorite part of the book and for me was the easiest to follow although it still felt that the story jumped a bit from scene to scene. The past and future portions of the book were less fluid and harder to piece together. I was often re reading it to figure out what had happened. The story is a slow burn and takes a significant amount of chapters to gain traction. I really liked the characters Beth and Du Bois and their struggle and time spent solving the mystery of the apocalypse. The action of the now story is really good and had enough tension to keep me engaged in that story line. The past story line had me struggling to push through it and keeping my attention was done with much work. Much of the future story line is abstract and odd, a bit hard to describe.

In the far future, after the Loss of Earth, war has begun and an unknowable alien race has awakened, intent on the destruction of everything.

Here and now, the end of the world has come. And the only way our species will survive is if two augmented humans can fight their way through apocalypse to a faint glimmer of hope.

Long ago, the seeds of that apocalypse were resisted by the warrior tribes of Britain, with devastating consequences for them and their lands.

And all three of these times will meet on another world . . .

Gavin G. Smith, biography

Gavin Smith was born in Dundee in the same year that Iron Butterfly recorded Inna-Gadda-da-Vida. He has also lived in Camberley, Hayling Island, Portsmouth, Hull, Leamington Spa and is currently living a near feral existence in Leicester (if you see him in the streets he will write science fiction for sweeties). Anyone who has been to any of these places will understand why his fiction is like it is.

He has a degree in writing for film and a Masters in medieval history. Veteran is his first novel but he is patiently waiting for one of the 2.5 scripts that have been optioned to be turned into films.